Michael Clarke's hamstring strain has exposed the dearth of leadership options in Australian cricket

IT has been called the second most important position in Australia after the Prime Minister. Millions have craved it. Only 43 have done it.

You would think the queue of likely lads would stretch longer than the one for Springsteen tickets.

But there is no queue for Australia's Test cricket captaincy. The cupboard is virtually bare.

Extraordinary but true.

Michael Clarke's hamstring strain has candidly exposed the dearth of leadership options in Australian cricket.

The system is producing "brands" - players who know how to make money by spreading their talent across different formats in different countries - but not men of exceptional charisma.

The modern player is taught how to exist and excel but not necessarily inspire. Their focus is their own game.

They may play for five teams a year and become adept at fitting in with men of all different cultures and styles without ever feeling a deep connection to any team or teammate.

Lacking are men like selfless schoolteacher Bill Woodful who stood firm in the face of Bodyline, Ian Chappell who was bold enough to lead a revolution and Richie Benaud who had style and flair.

Men with something extra ... where are they?

Shane Watson will captain Australia against Sri Lanka on Boxing Day if Clarke withdraws from the side yet only 11 months ago chairman of selectors John Inverarity could hardly have been more equivocal downplaying Watson's leadership potential.

"From Shane's point of view I think a guy who is an all-rounder, a batsman and a bowler, in all three formats of cricket, and has some difficulty remaining fit all the time, I think he's got enough on his plate without leadership responsibilities," Inverarity said.

But the days of state captains being everpresents in the national side are gone.

The likes of James Hopes (Queensland), Cameron White (Victoria) and Adam Voges (Western Australia) have faded from international reckoning, Johan Botha (South Australia) is a South African while George Bailey (Tasmania) is Australia's T20 captain but a long way from playing a Test.

And then there is the issue of general worldliness.

Inverarity, a much admired former school headmaster in Perth, was himself a leader of the highest order on and off the field. The West Australian Sheffield Shield team he captained won four titles.

He had such a strong clear mind that on graduation night at school he would stand on stage and remember each name of the 100-plus graduates as he farewelled them at the completion of their final year.

Before the game turned professional in the late 1980s Australia's captains came from all sorts of exotic backgrounds - a stockbroker, plumber and a whisky agent among others.

There has been no prototype for a successful Australian Test captain.

Australia has been led by men who barely touched a drink (Don Bradman) to others (Vic Richardson) who considered a few quiet drinks before bed an essential part of the team bonding process.

Australia was captained by those with no interest in gambling (Steve Waugh) to those who loved it like Herbie Collins, who became a bookmaker in life after cricket.

The key constants is these men, Steve Waugh aside, all had life experience outside the cricket bubble. As recently as the late 1980s Australia's highest profile cricketers cherished the fact they had been buffeted about by forces beyond the baggy green.

School teacher and Test vice-captain Ian Healy may not have been the cricketer he was had he not been given a brutal time by a rebellious class of 14-year-olds at Kingston High School.

No world class quick ever drove him to tears like that school class did but Healy gradually won the class over through sheer perseverance and the experience fortified him for greater challenges.

Darren Lehmann, a key if unsung team leader during his stint with the Australian side, used to work on the production line at the Holden factory in Adelaide.

Inverarity has noted that the education of the street should never be underestimated in the moulding of team leaders.

"There's a real danger in cricket that if you have a very strong support staff that does more than necessary, players don't develop the resilience and streetsmarts," he said.

This is so true. These days cricketers are just cricketers. It's not their fault. When you are earning $1 million a year from playing sport why would you need to teach kids?

But insularity does come at a price.

Some cricketers have up to four life advisers.

Beyond the boundary there are safety nets and soft landings in all directions yet once inside the pickets captains are essentially left to their own gut instincts.

At times it can be a very lonely place.

Australia had its first Test captain 24 years before it had its first prime minister and it used to be said many Australians could rattle off the list of Test captains more readily than the list of PMs.

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